Jackie Roosevelt Robinson was born in Cairo, GA on January 31, 1919, and was an American professional baseball player.  He was the first African American to play in major League Baseball in the modern era. After Jackie was signed to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers, they ended the racial segregation in professional baseball. Jackie won the National League’s Most Valuable Player Award  in 1949. He became the first black player to earn this honored. When Jackie first joined the Dodgers he was hated for his dark skin from the crowd and his teammates. He was a nonviolent person, and kept his focus on baseball. Jackie was also the first black television analyst in Major League Baseball, and the first black vice president of a major American corporation.

He helped establish the Freedom National Bank, an African-American owned financial institution based Harlem, New York. Jackie played in six world series and contributed to the Dodgers. In 1997, Major League Baseball retired his uniform number 42 across all major league teams. He was the first professional athlete in any sport to be so honored. Major League Baseball also embraces a tradition called “Jackie Robinson Day” just for him. After his death in 1972, Jackie was posthumously awarded the congressional Gold Medal and presidential Medal of freedom.